Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-07-09

| we might learn the art OF cong good
aud become mighty hunters before
the Lord -
In the first place, if you want to be
eilectual in doing good, you must be
very sure of your weapon. There was
something very fascinating about the
archery of olden times. Perhaps you
DO not know what they could do with
the bow and arrow. Why, the chief
battles fought by the English Plantage.
nets were with the long bow. They
would take the arrow of polished
wood, and feather it with the plume of
a bird, and then it would fv from the
bow-string Of plated silk. The broad
fields of Aglncourt, and Solway Moss,
and Nevillc's Cross, heard the loud
| thrum of the archer's bow-string. Now,
my Christian friends. we have a
mightier weapon than that. 1t is the
ARROW OF THE GOSPEL.
1t is "A sharp arrow; it is a straight ar
row; 1t is feathered from the wing of
the dove of Gods Spirit; it flies from a
bow made out of the wood of the cross.
As far as | can estimate or calculate,
it has brought down four hundred
million souls. Paul knew how to
bring the notch of that arrow onto
that bow-string, and its whirr was
heard through the Corinthian theatres.
and through the courtroom, until the
knees of Felix knocked together. 1t
was that arrow that stuck in Luther's
heart when he cried out: ''Oh, my
sins oh, my sins !" If it strike a man
in the head, it kills his skepticism; if it
strike him in the heel, it will turn his
step; il it strike him in the heart, he
throws up his hands, as did one of old
when wounded in the battle, crying:
'Oh, Galilean, Thou hast conquered"
In the armory of the Earl of Penn
broke, there are old c~orslets which
show that the arrow of the English
used to 90 through the breastplate,
through the body of the warrior, and
out through the backplatc. What a
symbol of that Gospel which is sharper
turn a two-edged sword, piercing to
the dividing asunder of soul and body,
and of the joints and marrow! Would
to God we had more
FAITH IN THAT GOSPEL!
The humblest man in this house, if
he had enough faith in him, could
bring a hundred souls to Jesus-per-
haps five hundred. Just in proportion
as this age seems to believe less and
less in it, ! believe more and more in
it. What are men about that they will
not accept their own deliverancep
There is nothing proposed by men
that can do anything like this gospel.
The religion of Ralph Waldo Emerson
is the philosophy of %icicles; the religion
of Theodore Parker was a sirocco of
the desert, covering up the soul with
dry sand; the religion of Renan is the
romance of believing nothing, the re-
ligion of Thomas Carlyle is only a con
densed London fog; the religion of the
Huxleys and the Spencers is merely a
PEDESTAL on which human philosophy
sits shivering in the night of the soul,
looking up to the stars, offering no help
to the nations that crouch and groan at
the base. Tell where there is one MAJ
who has rejected that gospel for
another, who is thoroughly satisfied
and helped and contented in his skepti-
cism, and | will take the car tomorrow
and ride five hundred miles to see him.
The full
POWER OF GOSPEL
has not been touched. AS a sports
man throws up his hand and catches
the ball flying through the air, just so
easily will this Gospel after a while
catch this round world flying from its
orbit and bring it back to the heart Of
Christ. Give it full swing, and 1t will
pardon every sin, heal every wound,
cure every tro bic, emancipate every
slave, and ransom every nation. Ye
Christian men and women who 90 out
this afternoon to do Christian work, rs
you 90 into the Sunday schools, and
the lay preaching stations, and the
penitentiaries, and the asylums, | want
you to feel that you bear in your hand
IA weapon, compared with which the
lightning has no speed, and avalanches
have no heft, and the thunderbolts of
heaven have no power; 1t is the arrow
of the omnipotent Gospel. Take care
lul ain. ull inc arrow ClOdT Ddch un-
til the head strikes the bow. Then
let it fly. And may the slain of the
Lord be many.
Again: If you want to be skillful in
! spiritual hunting YOU must hunt in un.
frequented and secluded places. Why
does the hunter 90 three or four days
in the Pennsylvania forests or over
Raquette lake into the wilds of the AID.
irondacksp 1t is the only way to do.
The deer are shy, and one bang of
the gun clears the forest. From the
California stage you see, as you 90
over the plains, here and there, a coy
ote trotting along, almost in range of
the gun-sometimes quite within range
of it. No one cares for that; it is
worthless. The good game is hidden
and secluded. Every hunter knows
that. So, many of the souls hat will
be of most worth for Christ, and of
most value 20 the church are secluded.
They do not come IN your way. You
will have TO 60 where they are. Ion-
der they arr down in that cellar, yon-
der they are mp in that garrett. Far
away from the door of any church,